KINDRED DRAGONS

A girl dreams of a dragon of her own.

Poking around on Prince Edward Island under her grandmother’s watchful eye, Alice is sullen as her friends begin to receive dragon eggs to care for. In Alice’s world, heavily inspired by Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908), dragons are linked to “kindred” humans for life; they work as a team and ultimately even die together. Being a kindred runs in families, however, and because Alice’s grandmother adopted her children, she won’t pass down the gift. But with the help of Brim, an elderly dragon skulking around the nearby woods, Alice discovers that she possesses a unique talent—one that will help her protect Brim as he grows ill. This graphic novel offers an intricate vision of early-19th-century rural Canada. With grace and consideration, Mensinga touches on relationships between women and girls, concepts of adoptive and found family, and class conflict. Her illustrations are a joy; muted pastel drawings invoke both the quiet beauty of rural life and the lyrical elegance of dragons at rest and in flight. Middle-grade readers seeking meaning and adventure will appreciate Alice’s steadfast commitment to defending and caring for these majestic beasts. Alice has pale, freckled skin, her grandmother is brown-skinned, and their community is diverse.

At once tender and bold, a thoughtful, lovely fantasy.